The Huffington Post’s HuffPost Live streaming service arrives for iPhone

The Huffington Post has introduced an iPhone-optimized version of its social video-streaming network, HuffPost Live, almost a year after it first unveiled the service for the Web.

HuffPost Live is aimed at its community of readers around the world, who can join in via their webcam. The network live-streams 12 hours each day, and when live broadcasting ceases, highlights are aired.

Though an iPad version was rolled out last November, version 1.1. of HuffPost Live represents the first time it’s been available for the smaller-screened form factor of the iPhone and iPod touch.

With the latest update, there’s also a new background audio feature for both versions of the app that can be activated in settings – this allows users to listen to HuffPost Live while doing other things on their device.

Highlights are also now available directly in the iOS app, while the iPad version lets users browse the archives while simultaneously watching live streams.

The Huffington Post was co-founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart, and Jonah Peretti in 2005, accruing a large online readership which led to its eventual acquisition by AOL in February 2011, for $315m.